We are urban designers and architects who believe in the transformative power of beautiful, sustainable, walkable communities for all.

Missing Middle Housing

Walkable, attainable communities people love to call home

Opticos principal Daniel Parolek inspired a new movement for housing choice in 2010 when he introduced the concept of the “missing middle” in American housing. Today, Opticos creates innovative architectural designs to help build walkable communities with unique, diverse housing choices that are attainable for all.

Zoning codes forpeople-centered places

Opticos is a world leader in zoning reform for walkable, sustainable communities. We didn’t create form-based coding, but we’ve been trailblazers in the field for more than 20 years. We are experts in understanding how the form of buildings will shape community spaces, and we can simplify the process of introducing form-based codes with a predictable build-out.

Rohnert Park, California

Prairie Queen Missing Middle Neighborhood

Omaha, Nebraska

In our previous post showing how we design Missing Middle Housing for small sites, we reviewed some initial steps, including conceptual studies for a small site master plan in Novato, California. Now, we’re going to look at the steps we took to refine the preferred alternative into something ready for entitlement.

Opticos Design is honored to have partnered with the National Building Museum and Metcalfe Architecture & Design to utilize our housing expertise, particularly at the Missing Middle Housing scale, to design an interactive element of a timely new exhibit, “Making Room: Housing for a Changing America,” on view now at the National Building Museum through September 2018.

As experts in Missing Middle Housing types, we’ve closely documented lots of examples of the Missing Middle and explored the world of carriage houses. This time, we’re looking at a charming, clustered type of Missing Middle Housing: the bungalow court.